"I was in college, and now instead of going to college I'm doing Bitcoin," says Louis Parker, an entrepreneur who has set up shop at the Bitcoin Center NYC, a cavernous storefront in lower Manhattan's financial district that's become a central gathering spot for New York City's cryptocurrency traders, programmers, and enthusiasts. "There's no college class on Bitcoin, except in Cyprus, and I wasn't ready to move there," he says.
Every Monday night, the Bitcoin community holds a meet up called Satoshi Square, named in honor of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, in which traders exchange virtual currencies for U.S. dollars. Before Satoshi Square relocated to the Bitcoin Center NYC a couple weeks ago, it was held in the shopping aisles of a Whole Foods grocery store on the Lower East Side.
Why convert Bitcoins to dollars in person when it's simple to do so on the web? For one thing, online trades require a bank account, which some Bitcoin users lack. Trading in person also reduces transaction fees and enables haggling. "There's a lot of benefits to coming together on an exchange," says Scott Tuddenham, who helps manage the order book during Satoshi Square. "Commerce has been conducted in city centers since the beginning of time," he says.
The cofounder of the Bitcoin Center NYC is Nick Spanos, a tech entrepreneur and the owner of the New York City real estate brokerage firm Bapple. He says his interest in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies is partly driven by concern that over printing of money by the U.S. government could lead to runaway inflation.
"Maybe people just by learning about Bitcoin will slowdown the dollars being printed as an educational function of its existence," says Spanos.
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The problem with any crypto currency is that a large amount of it is mined by the creators prior to it being launched. It is nothing more than a pyramid scheme like other currencies. Like the dollar, it has value because people believe it to has value. Also like the dollar, the lions share is in the hands of a select few people. Rushing from one pyramid scheme to a new pyramid scheme in the hopes of being higher in the pyramid isn't going to save you when the blocks come tumbling down. You either get crushed by the weight of the blocks or die from the distance you fell. The only safe plan is one that includes you developing useful skills that can be bartered and having the means to defend yourself from those who wish to do you harm.

Mining crypto-currency isn't "helping out the network" it is running through algorithms that randomly generate the currency. It isn't like the processing power is being applied to rendering images, decoding the genome or solving large equations.

Bitcoin will always have problems and I'm going to tell you why. First of all, don't get me wrong, I understand that the US dollar is a disaster.
The reason Bitcoin will always have problem is because:
1. It is produced by labor and power "spent computer cycles" that is worthless, nonredeemable, and does not perpetuate the economy.
2. There are now many cryptocurrencies, so there is no limit to how much cyptocurrency can be produced, just like the US dollar.
3. Hackers are making the currency unreliable, just like what the US Federal Reserve Bank is doing to the dollar.
Issue 1. in more detail.
Lets say I decided make my own real world currency. So what I did is take pile of rocks and told everyone that if they moved the rock back and forth between two destination that I would issue them my currency for their labor.
I don't believe my currency would have any value, because moving the rock serves no purpose, and does not create a valuable resource in our economy and markets.
Backing your money with recourse that has value in our economy makes more sense. It could be anything, but I'm going to use gold and silver as an example to make my point.
Like Bitcoin it takes a lot of labor to mine gold and silver. But the difference from Bitcoin is that gold and silver are a valuable resource in our world. Spent computer cycles are not a reusable, valuable resource.
Gold and silver can be used for many things, including money, for dental and medical, jewelry, electronics ect... things we need, want and use in every day life. Things we purchase in our economy. Things that make our life easier and better. The labor used to extract precious metals like gold and silver creates a "Valuable" resource.
Bitcoin is essentially spent computer cycles, and the created spent computer cycles have no other value in our economy because as humans we have no use for spent computer cycles. If we need unspent computer cycles we purchase a computer, "which by the way has a lot of gold and silver in it".
I hope this helps you all understand why cryptocurrencies will never work in the long run. Bitcoin is no different than the US dollar that became a fiat currency in 1971 under the Nixon administration.
Put your money in more tangible valuable resources. There are thousands of valuable item in this world. Real estate, precious metals and stones, ect...

So many of the comments are coming from pale who don't understand the system in the slightest. Don't worry, I used to be like you, I thought it couldn't work, it wasn't better than dust cause it was backed by nothing, blah blah blah. Well now I mine and trade with my own built gaming pc (already paid for itself), high end asic equipment, and profit trading various crypto-currency.
When you actually learn what money is, and why the market has traditionally picked something like silver to fill that position, you can explore how Bitcoin digitally replicates all of this.

Bitcoin is true alternative to Gold and its more a soft asset than the currency. So you can store value in it like gold but exchange it with other people in any fractions you wish. Its globally transferable instantly, anonymous to identity, and cannot be stolen unless you loose it foolishly by loosing your digital keys. Its most suitable to buy large items like, cars or real estate but can well be used to pay salaries and large bussiness transactions. you could buy a coffee too but i wont do that with such a sophisticated asset. for that poor fiats are ok. Remember It will not compete with Government currency when you have to pay taxes. but it will put enormous pressure on fiats to limit there creation and balance their supply.

i love to hear people talk like this. It makes me feel like i dont have to hurry as much to setup my Bitcoin businesses. I think its going to take a long time for most people to understand where this is going.

+snozzcumbers I would actually prefer a currency backed by nothing, but that is also regulated by nothing. The government may back U.S. dollars, but the government is the reason the U.S. dollar is so horribly inflated and on the verge of collapse.

+snozzcumbers In summary, you can't see bitcoin being much more useful than fiat currencies even though they're backed by something that is not "good or reliable". So in that case you just need to understand bitcoin a little better. Mathematics is fairly reliable.

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Your bitcoins are in danger of being lost or stolen, but otherwise not hacked. You have to keep your private keys safe, which for most people means if you have large amounts, keep them offline e.g. printed on paper. Spending money is safe enough in a smart phone if you use two factor authentication (2FA).

People are trading bitcoins for merchandise also. Overstock.com, Newegg.com, Tigerdirect.com, and by christmas season- amazon.com. If bitcoins becomes accepted everywhere, it could end the federal reserve, or force it to stop debasing its currency.

Bitcoin is not a safe alternative, the CIA investment firm In-Q-Tel has been involved since the beginning. also investor in bitcoin pay pal has been linked with NSA Prism. They want a crypto currency to be the future because the dollar is on its way out.

+Gri sha The only thing that I am saying is that the government will only be powerful insomuch as people enable it. If society saw it for exactly the evil parasite it was, then it would be dissolved immediately because it would have no power.

That's like saying cancer doesn't work because it kills the host. Parasites don't think long term and the western government is no different. If they cared so much about our productivity why would they send all the manufacturing and tech jobs to Asia?
And if you don't believe markets can be rigged look at gold and oil. German auditors just came out and said that the rigging of the gold market was worse than libor. And speaking of rigging, how about those interest rates? Hard to start a small business if your interest rate goes up a percent each quarter. These guys aren't going to be stopped by boycotting. You can't boycott the mob.

Great look on Bitcoin, what is it? Thanks for the post, "Wall Street's Cryptocurrency Headquarters: Inside Bitcoin Center NYC". I wonder how the government will tax this imaginary money, called Bitcoin? I bet Bitcoin will really drive the NSA spies wild. Who, has how much Bitcoin and they did what with it?
Interesting story details: Every Monday night, the Bitcoin community holds a meet up called Satoshi Square, named in honor of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, in which traders exchange virtual currencies for U.S. dollars. Before Satoshi Square relocated to the Bitcoin Center NYC a couple weeks ago, it was held in the shopping aisles of a Whole Foods grocery store on the Lower East Side.
Why convert Bitcoins to dollars in person when it's simple to do so on the web? For one thing, online trades require a bank account, which some Bitcoin users lack. Trading in person also reduces transaction fees and enables haggling. "There's a lot of benefits to coming together on an exchange," says Scott Tuddenham, who helps manage the order book during Satoshi Square. "Commerce has been conducted in city centers since the beginning of time," he says.
The cofounder of the Bitcoin Center NYC is Nick Spanos, a tech entrepreneur and the owner of the New York City real estate brokerage firm Bapple. He says his interest in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies is partly driven by concern that over printing of money by the U.S. government could lead to runaway inflation.

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Facilities.
Facilities for business continuity may include alternate workspace equipped for continuation of business operations. Alternate facilities may be owned or contracted including office space, data center, manufacturing and distribution.
Systems.
Systems for emergency response may include detection, alarm, warning, communications, suppression and pollution control systems. Protection of critical equipment within a data center may include sensors monitoring heat, humidity and attempts to penetrate computer firewalls.
Every building has exit routes so people can evacuate if there is a hazard within the building. These exit routes should be designed and maintained in accordance with applicable regulations.

Business continuity resources may include spare or redundant systems that serve as a backup in case primary systems fail. Systems for crisis communications may include existing voice and data technology for communicating with customers, employees and others.
Equipment.
Equipment includes the means for teams to communicate. Radios, smartphones, wired telephone and pagers may be required to alert team members to respond, to notify public agencies or contractors and to communicate with other team members to manage an incident.
Many tools may be required to prepare a facility for a forecast event such as a hurricane, flooding or severe winter storm.
Materials and Supplies.
Materials and supplies are needed to support members of emergency response, business continuity and crisis communications teams. Food and water are basic provisions.
Systems and equipment needed to support the preparedness program require fuel. Emergency generators and diesel engine driven fire pumps should have a fuel supply that meets national standards or local regulatory requirements. That means not allowing the fuel supply to run low because replenishment may not be possible during an emergency. Spare batteries for portable radios and chargers for smartphones and other communications devices should be available.
Funding.
Worksheets.